Tell HN: I Lost Joy of Programming • Hacker News Board

Re: Tell HN: I Lost Joy of Programming

#131

Post by wirelessRice » Sat, Jul 12, 2025, 12:38 PM UTC

I feel like the more we rely on AI, the stupider we as a whole in society becomes. There no longer is this sense of accomplishment of actually doing the work yourself, so you rely on an AI that just spits out the answer. No more digging around the web for a solution, google AI has got you. The old days of learning how to go to the library to get an encyclopedia to do a homework research article is over, there is something about the effort that goes into solving a solution more so than the solution itself, ergo the journey not the destination

Suggestion - pick up a new hobby that is engaging outside of work

Re: Tell HN: I Lost Joy of Programming

#132

Post by FerkiHN » Sat, Jul 12, 2025, 1:47 PM UTC

wirelessRice wrote: post #131

I feel like the more we rely on AI, the stupider we as a whole in society becomes. There no longer is this sense of accomplishment of actually doing the work yourself, so you rely on an AI that just spits out the answer. No more digging around the web for a solution, google AI has got you. The old days of learning how to go to the library to get an encyclopedia to do a homework research article is over, there is some…

It depends on the type of person, for example, I use AI but there is no degradation, on the contrary, I have achieved better, for me AI is a tool, I have never given it all the work, the ideas for optimization have done it all do it and AI just helps.

Re: Tell HN: I Lost Joy of Programming

#133

Post by ajeet_dhaliwal » Sat, Jul 12, 2025, 10:02 PM UTC

I get it. However I find without significant direction from me it architects things badly and/or introduces poor patterns or lack of maintainability so it’s not like you can just let it run. However manual coding does seem more tedious now and I try to get it to a point where it writes most of the code while I make adjustments.

Re: Tell HN: I Lost Joy of Programming

#134

Post by feketegy » Sun, Jul 13, 2025, 6:36 AM UTC

I use LLMs like I use Google. I will go to the website, type in the prompt, and read over the results. I would never embed LLMs into my whole workflow, let alone allow the entire code base to be analyzed by one.

Re: Tell HN: I Lost Joy of Programming

#135

Post by BlerckMajesty » Sun, Jul 13, 2025, 10:08 AM UTC

I’m an amateur who likes to hack stuff for fun. So what’s the point of an LLM doing this for me? I may as well go on the hunt for an Apple II because I loved writing machine code on it in the 80s.

Re: Tell HN: I Lost Joy of Programming

#136

Post by growbell_social » Mon, Jul 14, 2025, 12:59 PM UTC

> At this point, I’ve even stopped reviewing the exact code changes. I just keep pushing forward until the task is done.

I think this is becoming more normal. I wrote about it [1], but I have the opposite takeaway. This makes programming for me _vastly more_ enjoyable. It might come down to the type of programming you do.

1. Do you build and ship whole products? 2. Do you work mostly on non-user facing code (backend etc)

I'd be interested to know which of these you work on.

[1] https://open.substack.com/pub/growbell/p/i-dont-care-what-th...

Re: Tell HN: I Lost Joy of Programming

#137

Post by gwbas1c » Mon, Jul 14, 2025, 1:30 PM UTC

linuxscooter wrote: post #106

gwbas1c wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you're on to something: It sounds like the developer needs to be more hands-on in making changes; as opposed to treating the AI like a subordinate with autonomy. --- For example: About two years ago I worked with a contractor who was a lot more junior than our team needed. I'd give him instructions, and then the next day spend about 2-3 hours fixing his code. In total, I was spending half of my time handholdi…

If you haven’t done so, try changing your prompt styles. It’s an assistant for me but I’m finding it needs less and less babysitting. What I just tried: Ask it first to plan out a project you briefly described, focus on the planning, file structure is ok but no coding. Tell it what functionality is integrated, or what what should become a standalone module. Ask it to summarize. I then start a new chat for the code, a…

Have you done that with co-pilot in Visual Studio. Unless I'm missing something, I just don't think it can work that way.

I tried... It couldn't handle changes that spanned multiple files.

Re: Tell HN: I Lost Joy of Programming

#138

Post by bubblebeard » Mon, Jul 14, 2025, 2:35 PM UTC

I can relate. I’ve been using CA:s/LLM:s for various projects for the past year. It started to take the enjoyment out of it for me too. It’s a tool like any other though, just gotta figure out how to use it correctly. For me at least, I only use CA:s now to write code I already know how it should work. So I just use it to write code I’ve already written in my head, if that makes sense. And you should always review code produced by an AI very carefully.

Re: Tell HN: I Lost Joy of Programming

#139

Post by ratracer2025 » Tue, Jul 15, 2025, 8:40 AM UTC

Many of us are adopting AI tools at different paces but that is the giant theme going on with software developers at the moment.

In some level, I feel excited that the game has reset and anyone is having the opportunity to get 10x better or becoming irrelevant. It's about how one would leverage these tools, how to use them rights etc.

It's all about who can adapt better, who can evolve to say on top, which has always been the case in the big picture.

For example, I see myself: - "loose" the way I view "scalable code" in PR reviews - focusing less on programming styles - have new expectation about my productivity. (I tell myself with the tools I should 2x done than before, and challenge myself to get it done. In that process, you find a way to effectively use the tools) - etc.

I actually find joy in this process. Just sharing my story, no pun intended :)

Re: Tell HN: I Lost Joy of Programming

#140

Post by shafyy » Wed, Jul 16, 2025, 9:20 AM UTC

marginalia_nu wrote: post #63

add-sub-mul-div wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why should labor care about the quality of their work when management also does not because it's hard at the prospect of the largest displacement of labor in history?

Well I believe the thread you're commenting in has answered that question. Programming is also the field where it's the easiest to strike out on your own. Seizing the means of production in programming amounts to grabbing a $200 laptop.

> Seizing the means of production in programming amounts to grabbing a $200 laptop

This might have been true in 20 years ago, but not anymore. Sure, you can produce an app with a $200 and your time (which, by the way, has opportunity costs, which are the main "means of production" in programming), but who is going to pay you for it? Now, you need marketing. For marketing, you need capital. Or more time, which means more opportunity cost.